Pliers are known wherein rather than the jaws bearing directly against a workpiece, removable jaw inserts are mounted to each of the jaws and bear against the workpiece. Interchangeable jaw inserts provides a number of advantages over conventional pliers. First, damaged or worm jaw inserts are easily replaced, at a cost of considerably less than the cost of a new set of pliers. Second, jaw inserts having various bearing surface configurations, e.g. toothed, cutting, grooved, etc., may be used to adapt the pliers to a variety of applications. If desired, the upper and lower jaw inserts need not have the same bearing surface configuration, e.g. one jaw insert can be toothed and the other smooth.